LIST #4

REASONS WHY I LOVE MY JOB IN THE FIELD:

1.  I get paid to sit in the wildflowers (while waiting for machines to collect data)

2.  I make infrared sensors with a soldering iron and wire them into the data loggers.

3.  I get paid to watch water trickle into dirt very slowly. (for soil infiltration rates)

4.  I acquire a pretty spectacular tan{and tan lines} at 10,000 feet because there is little obstruction of UV rays at that altitude.

5.  I stay in this cute vintage cabin with hot water and a toilet

6.  There are always new species of wildflowers in bloom each week

7.  I get to pick all the wildflowers-unlike other people-because I am a scientist and I can call it "research"

8.  I have little distractions in the wilderness so that I can ponder God, and life, as well as solve all of the world's problems - like world hunger - in my head. {I will let you know when I reach a solid conclusion.  I am still in the brain storming phase on that one...}

9.  Since I am surrounded by hippie biologists, I am privileged to be the butt of all jokes--the engineer jokes are flying constantly.

10. I am learning about all of the edible plants in the area so that just in case I am stranded in central Utah, I will be able to  survive on glacier lily seed pods, wild rose, as wells as various roots and berries.

WHY YOUR PAPER CLIP DOESN'T STRAIGHTEN PROPERLY

Have you ever unbent a paper clip and tried to get all of the little kinks out? It doesn't work. This has irked me for ages.

So I know you are DYING to find out why.....

I learned today in a materials science lab that when a metal is deformed, (flattening, folding, bending, hammering, steam roller-ing, jack hammer-ing, anvil smashing, sumo wrestling, karate chopping, alien laser beaming, neutron star colliding. You know, every day things.) the metal actually becomes stronger.

Yes, stronger. {Bear with me, this is a little counterintuitive.}

So when you unbend your paper clip and try with all of the strength in your human hands to straighten out those annoying curves and zizags, you are actually making it harder on yourself. Recall that "bending" falls under the category of metal deformation- thus hardening the material.

Now, things in this world are never free...

You always must pay a price. Same with this metal-deformation-hardening technique. (FYI: The engineering term is "cold work") So when you harden the material you give up ductility, or the flexible nature of the metal. It snaps easier. That is why the paper clip breaks if you bend it back and forth too many times.

Interesting, eh?

LET THEM EAT CAKE

I am so sad that my cake decorating class is finished.

my culminating masterpiece:


This is what I call bait. I swear that men flock whenever food is present. Especially cake.
So I guess I am sad that this class is over on more than one level...


Anyone want to sign up for course 2 with me??

WHAT I LEARN AT COLLEGE

Today, many dating secrets were revealed to me with an equation presented in my statics class.

(I know what you are thinking-it is not supposed to be statistics. It really is statics. Think physics on steroids.)


NEWTONS LAW OF GRAVITATIONAL ATTRACTION



The above equation describes the gravitational force "F" between two objects
where m₁ and m₂ are two masses, respectively

r is the distance between the masses

and G is a constant.


Therefore, the more obese the couple is, the more the force of their attraction goes up. Just increase the "m" values and watch "F" go up...

AND

This is why long distance relationships never work out. If you increase "r" too much, the force of attraction goes dramatically down because of the inverse square proportionality.

Everything I need to know about dating is in my statics textbook.

Now you know why my social life is a desert.